Full Circle
by RealityMonster
Summary: Ranma wasn't supposed to be an only child, but someone has tampered with Ranma's existence for mysterious purposes. A work just starting, this story will be filled with romance and high adventure!
1. Prologue

Full Circle -- Prologue

This story starts in the middle, as most stories do.

The claim that the best place to start a story is at the beginning is a particularly trite falsehood. What people purport to be the beginning of a story is just the middle of another, longer story. Unless you go back to the beginning of time itself, you'll always start in the middle.

Sometimes, though, you start the story at the middle, get to the end, and come all the way around to the beginning again. Full circle. Though again, with a circle, there's nothing but a series of middles.

I'm getting sidetracked. I'll start where I can and let the rest sort itself out.

Let's start with a beginning.

--

Nodoka and Genma met, courted, and fell in love. They married, and eventually, what happens to many married people happened to them. Nodoka was pregnant, Genma was proud and frantic all at once, and they were generally happy. Genma often sat near his wife and talked excitedly at her sizeable abdomen, telling his future offspring about the training and honour and the amazing things that were coming for the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Genma was looking forward to having a son, and he could feel it in his gut that Nodoka was pregnant with a boy.

Aside from Genma trying to teach martial arts through his wife's belly, the pregnancy was uneventful. After the requisite nine months, Nodoka ended up in the office of her local doctor. Neither her nor Genma particularly liked hospitals, and the doctor was a family friend that had spent the better part of the last few years patching Genma up after his training misadventures.

Nodoka's doctor -- not for the first time -- sized her up and laughed heartily.

"Twins!" he enthused. "I'm sure of it. Not only are you huge, but I can feel their auras. The yin and yang is very strong. You'll have both a son AND a daughter by the end of the day!"

Nodoka was less enthusiastic than her doctor was. Her back was killing her, she felt as though she were the size of a bus, and she was having second thoughts about this whole giving birth thing. It was uncomfortable at best, blindingly painful at worst. Genma was hanging around the edges of the room, unwilling to come too close to his wife. He loved her dearly, but Nodoka had started giving him the "you're the one that did this to me" glare about an hour ago.

The nurse kindly came over and ushered him out into the hall. Her face was covered with a mask, and her hair was under a cap, but she had bright, smiling eyes that calmed Genma immediately. She assured him everything would be just fine, and he could come back in once his child -- or possibly children -- had been born.

The doctor followed Genma out into the waiting room, telling him reassuring things about his wife and his children and how soon martial arts training could start. He waved at the nurse, wordlessly signalling that she should come get him when the real action started. The nurse closed the door behind the two men, and their loud conversation eventually faded as they moved away.

The nurse's smiling eyes and cheerful demeanour calmed Nodoka somewhat (though the departure of her husband and noisy doctor was at least partly to thank as well), and she closed her eyes, trying to meditate a bit on keeping herself calm and comfortable. Well, as comfortable as could be expected.

The nurse reached out and put her palms flat on Nodoka's belly. Immediately, Nodoka's features relaxed and her breathing slowed. She gave a small sigh, and fell asleep. The nurse didn't move her hands, and furrowed her brow slightly, a look of concentration creasing the visible part of her face. She stood like that for several minutes, unmoving, hardly even breathing. She may have gritted her teeth behind her mask. Presently, she gave a great sigh, exhaled heavily, and let her hands drop from Nodoka's body. She moved smoothly around the room, prepping this and that, while Nodoka drowsily opened her eyes and yawned.

"My goodness, did I fall asleep? Does that happen when you're in labour?" she yawned.

The nurse smiled at her from behind the mask, her bright eyes twinkling as they creased around the edges. "Only if you're lucky."

In short order, the nurse stepped into the hall and called the doctor back into the room. She helped him wash up and put on some clean gloves. He tied his own mask on, turned to Nodoka and smiled, "Well, let's meet your children."

Messy details aside, Nodoka's labour from that point on was uncomplicated. She breathed when she was told to breathe, pushed when she was told to push, and in a relatively short amount of time (which seemed interminably long to HER, it's worth pointing out) her confused and disappointed doctor was holding a baby boy. Clearly, it was the only baby she had inside her, and it was causing him some consternation.

"I could have sworn you were going to have twins today, Nodoka. I've never been wrong about this sort of thing before."

Nodoka only shook her head. She obviously didn't mind at all.

The nurse gently took the baby from his hands, and wrapped it up in soft blankets. The baby boy -- "Ranma," Nodoka had whispered -- opened his eyes as he squirmed around, softly crying. Briefly, for just a split second, his eyes met with the nurse's, and his crying paused. She smiled at him as she brought him to Nodoka's weary, waiting arms. As she passed the boy over to his mother, she whispered, "Welcome aboard, you two."

The doctor and the nurse opened the door and let the anxiously pacing Genma into the room. He rushed over to Nodoka's side, and they quietly laughed as he hugged her and smiled at his new son. The nurse closed the door behind her, and left the family alone to enjoy their new beginning together.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was the end of the world. The end of the Universe, even.

Did you know that physicists have shown that a person observing the Universe around them has a permanent, irrevocable effect on things around them? The only thing that you need to do to change the Universe is to observe it. If you're particularly conceited, you could argue that only your impact on the Universe is relevant and measurable, and everyone else is just a figment of your imagination. That would make you the centre of the Universe, and when you died, the Universe would end with you.

The Nurse was dying. She knew it and she was trying to accept it, but even when you're the kind of person that doesn't fear death, dying's a hard thing to do. She understood that she had fulfilled what could be called her purpose, but she still felt like there was so much more to do. The Universe had so much more to offer, and she had so much more to offer back.

There was some irony, she thought to herself, that the dying mourn their deaths before anyone else got the chance.

She was propped up against the cool stone wall of a cave. She concentrated on the sound of dripping water all around her as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back. The cool, wet stone helped relieve the headache that she suddenly realized she had, but it did little else to help her condition. She sighed quietly, feeling the tickle of blood seeping from the wounds that covered what seemed like her entire body. She tried to breathe deeply, but quickly abandoned that course of action when the shooting pain in her chest started. She opened her eyes -- those bright, smiling eyes -- and looked up at the trio that were standing at her feet.

"Well," she murmured, "I guess this is it."

None of them were rude enough to offer up any consoling platitudes, she noted ruefully. Another small comfort. But then, that was probably all she had to look forward to, now.

The three figures watching her seemed mismatched and out of place. A tall, dark-haired man stood closest to her, gazing at her with eyes that were as sad and brooding as her eyes were warm and inviting. It was impossible to gauge his age from his features; his face was scarred and battered looking, but in the places where he had escaped damage, his skin was smooth and youthfully healthy. He stepped forward and knelt down beside her, taking one of her blood slicked hands in between his two smooth palms.

"Yeah. Looks like it," he grunted.

"You're not really very comforting, you know. No 'good job' or 'you'll be fine' or..." Her sentence broke off as she gritted her teeth and looked pained.

He smiled sadly at her. "I didn't think you'd want to hear any of that stuff. I KNOW you don't want to hear any of that stuff. And I don't want to say it."

"What would you want us to tell you that stuff for anyway?" one of the others interjected. "You're dying because you got careless and now we have to do the rest of this stuff on our own. At best we could say that at least you won't slow us down as much anym..."

She was interrupted by a small hand reaching up to touch her shoulder.

The Nurse grinned, showing her bloodstained teeth. She looked at the pair of women and licked her lips, moistening them only the smallest amount. "I expected nothing less from you, Vreya. You're right, obviously. But sometimes, people like to be lied to a bit." She turned her head to the small figure resting her hand on the other's shoulder. "Mute, it's okay. This is just another one of those things that she doesn't understand yet. Besides, he's right; I didn't want to hear any of that stuff. I just wanted to get my last digs in."

The woman called Mute dropped her hand to her side, her soft, dark robes rustling as she did so. She was almost painfully pretty; her face looked like it had been chiselled and sculpted rather than grown and lived in. She had silver, glossy hair and eyes as cool and hard as sapphires. Her skin was pale and smooth, like a doll's, with only the slightest touch of colour at the cheeks. Her lips were soft and luscious and red, a shocking splash of colour against that pale complexion. Men and women alike would find the idea of kissing those lips almost irresistible.

She looked solemnly at The Nurse, then took Vreya's hand in her own and sighed. Vreya, tall and golden-furred, twitched her long tail irritably, though she didn't pull her hand away from the smaller woman. Even in the dark of the cave, she veritably shone; what little light there was caught in her fur and seemed to amplify ever so slightly. Her violet eyes betrayed a shrewd intelligence behind them, but the expression on her feline face was definitely confused. Her ears flicked in a particularly catlike show of agitation, and she mumbled an apology to the dying woman.

The Nurse twitched her hand in a manner that indicated that Vreya should forget about it, and she turned her head back to the man at her side.

"Path, m'gettin' sleepy. I've lost...lotta blood. Obviously m'beyond any aid." She paused to catch her breath. Talking was getting harder, and Path leaned in so she could save some energy by speaking more quietly.

"Take m' pend'nt 'n' m'ring," she slurred. "Give 'em when y'find 'em." She swallowed. "Like calls t'like. Tell 'em that. Hopef'ly that'll be 'nough."

Her head drooped down. Dying was hard work, she decided. She was glad that she only had to do it once. A tear formed in the corner of her eye and ran down her cheek. "I wish...I wish I had tasted more choc'late," she whispered, and then was still.

Path stared at her for a few moments, and it was obvious that the sadness on his face was an expression he wore often. Dutifully, he took a pendant and chain from around her neck, and a ring from her left ring finger, and slid them into a pocket on the inside of the voluminous leather coat draped on his frame. He shut her still-open eyes gently with his fingertips, and she looked for all the world like she was just taking a nap against the wall.

He stood up smoothly, turned, and walked away, all in one motion, his long coat flipping behind him. He jammed his hands into his pockets, and didn't look back as he walked down a long, cavernous corridor towards the barely visible patch of light in the distance that was the way out of the cave.

Mute watched him go, then silently followed, walking backwards for a few steps before lightly spinning around and walking away.

Vreya's expression was still confused as she looked down at her dead companion. "I hate this stupid Universe," she huffed. "None of this makes any sense."

Turning, she strode into an easy jog, and followed the others out. She let the Universe end behind her.

--

It was like any other day in Nerima. That means it was a day like no other anywhere else.

Listen, there are only three kinds of people that populate Nerima. There are those of us that are a bit crazy, and there are the people that are new and don't know any better. The third kind is the kind that's packing their bags.

I'd been splashed with cold water three times -- three times! -- before I'd even left my house. I'd already been in two fights, broken a door, eaten breakfast, been slapped, had a perfectly good shirt torn and lost an argument with my 'fiancée'.

I'd lived more in the last 15 minutes than most people do in years. You don't hear me not complaining, though. My life is way too interesting.

I hadn't bothered changing out of my girl form when I left for school with Akane. Not only were we running dangerously close to late, that stupid old woman would have just made me wet again as we went past. God, I hate her.

Akane, having won our morning argument (by hitting me with that damnable giant mallet), was now in a more or less calm mood, and she was chattering about one of our classes or another. I wasn't really paying attention.

"Ranma? Are you even listening to me?"

I started, and nearly lost my balance. I covered it up by hopping down onto the street beside her. "Sorry. I'm distracted today. I feel like someone's watching me."

She smacked my arm lightly, and grinned. "Someone probably is. Someone ALWAYS is. Actually, maybe nobody's watching you and now you feel weird because nobody's about to make an attempt on your life or declare you their fiancée."

She frowned, and I could tell she was getting angry at the thought. I moved quickly to head off any argument.

"Relax, Akane. You're probably right! I'm just paranoid! Ha ha ha..." I laughed nervously and trailed off.

She looked mollified, then a bit concerned. "Huh, you must be actually worried about this."

I verbally backpedalled a bit. "Nah. Besides, I'm the best. Even if something's coming, I'm totally ready for it."

Akane snorted, but didn't say anything for the rest of the run to school.

--

Our day at school was relatively uneventful, I thought. I changed back to a boy after my first class, and managed to stay that way for basically the entire time. I may have beat Kuno up at some point, but like I said, I was distracted. I spent a lot of the day on autopilot, trying to shake that vague, disconcerting feeling that something bad was coming.

The end of the school day came, and I was even more eager to get home than usual. Of course, I failed to properly negotiate the water flinging lady, and ended up as a girl again, but I didn't notice at all until I got home that I was soaking wet.

"Kasumi? Pop? Anyone home?"

Kasumi stuck her head out of the kitchen and smiled at me, holding a kettle of water out. "Welcome home, Ranma. How was your day?" she asked.

I smiled back and took the water from her, pouring it over my head. "Actually, I was wondering about your day. Anything interesting happen? Everything's okay here?"

Kasumi smiled, evidently delighted that I was showing some interest in her day. I was just worried, obviously, but I wasn't going to ruin it. "Well, let's see," she said. She looked pensive, and put a finger to her cheek. "I cleaned up the broken bits of door after you left, then I went to the market and I ran a few errands. Your father and my father spent most of the day playing Shogi and practising. Oh, and you got some mail from your friend Ryouga."

I blinked. "Mail?"

"Postcards, mostly." She pointed to a small stack of paper on a table. I wandered over and picked them up and leafed through them. He had sent postcards to me from all over Japan. The cards had pictures of beautiful temples or forests or whatever, and invariably he'd written on the back something along the lines of how nice it was there and when he found his way back I was going to pay and die a painful death. Or something. Great.

"Maybe he's the one that's been following me around all day," I mumbled, mostly to myself.

"Oh?" Kasumi asked. "Was someone following you today?"

"Huh? Oh, no. Well, I don't know. I didn't see anyone. I just had a really creepy day."

Kasumi smiled one of her smiles. "Well, I'm sure it's nothing. If you'll excuse me, I have to go finish making dinner. I'm sure you'll feel better after you've eaten."

I realized that I was starving, and nodded, "You're probably right. Thanks, Kasumi!"

She stepped back into the kitchen with the kettle, humming, and I wandered to the dojo for a little pre-dinner practice, my mood considerably better.

--

Dinner was uneventful, and by that, I mean it was total chaos. It was a comfortable kind of craziness, though. Akane was in a good mood, and didn't hit me even once.

As dinner wound down, I noticed that Nabiki looked a bit agitated. Or did she? I've always had a bit of a time telling what she's thinking. I mean, I know that she's always trying to work the angles, maximize profit, yadda yadda, but I know that's not all that's going on inside her head. I've got a lot of experience in sizing up people, and I know that there's more to her than what meets the eye.

She leaned forward on her elbows, and looked into my eyes. I looked away a bit and made a face. "What is it, Nabiki?"

"You cost me quite a bit of money today, Ranma," she grumbled.

I was honestly surprised. "What? How could I have done that? I didn't do anything at all today!"

"I know, Ranma, that's the problem. Your ongoing antics and fights and challenges are the subject of a complex series of bets and progonstications. You could say that I have an entire stock market based around who you fight, how many times you get detention...even whose food you eat while you're at school."

"And?"

"Well, you didn't get into trouble today, didn't fight anyone -- except Kuno, and that didn't really count because he was distracted by some pictures I was selling him -- you ignored both Shampoo and Ukyou entirely when they came to give you food, and you left early. Honestly, Ranma! How's a girl supposed to turn a profit like this?"

My mouth was hanging open, and it took some real effort for me to close it. "You..what?...But! Gah!" I sputtered.

"You really missed an amazing fight, too. They destroyed a couple classrooms blaming each other for your inattention. Once Hinako-sensei showed up, though, it was over pretty quick. Zap, zap, done. I made a bit of money off of that bet, so at least the day wasn't a total loss..."

I tuned her out. Not only was I upset that Nabiki was blaming me for something like this, I was starting to realize what an odd day it had been. Had I really not seen Ukyou or Shampoo today? How was that even possible?

It did explain why Akane was in such a good mood, though.

Three people started jabbering at once.

"Good work, boy! It sounds like you're finally growing up and taking on the responsibilities of a man!"

"It's about time you started treating my daughter right, Ranma!"

"Honestly, onee-san! We have one half-way quiet day, and you're trying to stir things up!"

I just sat and looked confused and moved my mouth ineffectually.

"A girl's gotta eat, Akane. And if she wants to eat the good stuff, well..."

Akane crossed her arms and made an unhappy noise. "I thought today was really nice. Doesn't that count for anything?"

"Nice doesn't buy me new shoes, little sis," Nabiki grinned.

Akane opened her mouth to chastise Nabiki some more, but we were interrupted by the sound of someone at the door.

"Oh dear," Kasumi said. "I'll go see who that is. Akane, can you and Ranma quickly tidy up here for me?"

"Of course, Kasumi!" Akane elbowed me into action, and we started cleaning up the table. Pop and Mr. Tendou looked completely uninterested in the fact that someone was visiting.

Me, I just tried to control the sinking feeling in my gut while I tidied up some dishes.

--

When we got back to the table, there was nobody there. Akane and I wandered out to the yard, where Pop, Mr. Tendou, Kasumi and Nabiki were sitting. There were three newcomers with them, sitting facing the dojo, while our family faced them.

Two of them were dressed in robes, but one of them still had her hood up. I could tell it was a woman by the unmistakable bulge of breasts under the clothing. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at her, though, because I was fixated on the other woman sitting there.

She was beautiful. She was beautiful in the way that makes you bite your lip and excuse yourself from the room. I couldn't help staring at her. She had these lips, y'see, and hair like...like the colour of clouds at night when the moon shines on them. And her eyes...they were blue -- blue like the water you see in pictures of tropical oceans. I looked into those eyes and I thought I was drowning.

In the back of my mind, I knew I would be getting in trouble for staring so hard, but I just couldn't help it. I could see the faint trace of a smile on those red, red lips as she looked back at me.

Surprisingly, I wasn't shocked out of my reverie by Akane hitting me.

"Ahem," the third stranger cleared his throat. I'd barely even noticed him there. "I need you to tear yourselves away from her from a second and pay attention to me. I promise you'll have plenty of opportunity to look at my friend later."

"Whuh?" I realized that I wasn't the only one that made that noise as I turned my head towards the guy sitting across from my Pop. Akane had apparently been just as transfixed by this woman as I had.

I sized up the guy in front of us in a quick instant. He was tall and powerful. He'd seen a lot of fighting action, and his posture and demeanour gave away that he was no-one to be trifled with. His face was covered with scars. He had a thousand stories to tell, and they were all written on his face, in those scars. I blinked a few times as I looked at him, and my head cleared a bit. Something occurred to me.

"Magic!" I gasped. The woman was pretty -- unbelievably beautiful, really -- but nobody's pretty enough to stop me in my tracks like that, let alone Akane.

He lifted an eyebrow at me, and smiled crookedly. "Very good, Ranma. Yes, Mute has a permanent glamour on her that badly distracts people the first time they come into contact with it. You'll get used to it over time."

"Who are you?" Akane asked, before I got the chance. I shut my mouth and tried not to look like a gaping idiot. "And what do you want?"

He smiled that crooked smile again. "You can call me Path, Akane. My covered companion is Vreya, and like I said, the pretty one at the end is called Mute." Mute lifted her hand and waved, her lips pursed in unconcealed amusement. The hooded figure in the middle just nodded silently, and I caught the glint of her violet eyes as she did. It was unsettling.

"As for what we want, well..." He turned to me. "We want to make Ranma what he should have been all along. We want to unlock him and help him realize his full potential, so he can help us save the world. The world, and maybe even the entire Universe."

--

Thanks to everyone that reviewed the prologue. I had intended this chapter to be longer -- my chapter plan had about 20 more things in it -- but this seemed like a good place to stop. I'll be busy for the next week, so hopefully a new chapter will be up within a couple weeks.

(And has anyone else noticed that the horizontal ruler in the editor totally doesn't work?)


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